Despite Checkpoints, Gangs Continue War on Southside

Chester Williams

The Christmas Season saw a noticeable increase in the number of police officers assigned to various hotspots across Belize City. In fact, it would almost seem as though a small tent with a pair of foldable chairs and two officers are stationed at the corners of every street leading towards the downtown area. Those measures notwithstanding, the crime spree across the Old Capital seemingly prevails unabated. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, a majority of what is presently taking place in the city streets is the work of two south side gangs.

ACP Chester Williams, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

“When we look across south side Belize City, there are only two gangs that are creating problems for us, two, and I’m not going to call their names. They know exactly who they are and this year 2017 is the year when we part companies where those two gangs are concerned. They must understand that they need to shape up. The other areas have been very quiet so we’ll continue to work with those people. We’ll continue our meet and greet, we’ll continue our Eastern Division South Cup, we’ll start this month. Our mentorship program will start this month as well. So we’ll continue to do things with those who want to make that change and most importantly we will be focusing even more intensely on the younger generation because they are the ones we believe we need to change. The older folks who are out there creating the problems, some of them as I’ve always said, you know, they don’t want to change, they have decided their destiny and eventually they will die. There’s nothing we can do about that. We have been doing what we can to save them but if they don’t want to take heed then what can we do?”

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